Civil Activist Sepideh Qolian Was Arrested Again
Civil Activist Sepideh Qolian announced her arrest on Twitter.
Before her arrest on Sunday, January 20th, she had responded to the National TV broadcasting her forced confessions in prison. Qolian tweeted: “I will follow up on the case of my torture in prison even more, and now that my confessions were broadcasted live, I want a public trial.”
Her confessions were broadcasted in a 10-minute show called “burnt plan” on Saturday from National TV. By broadcasting the confessions of Esmail Bakhshi, Ali Nejati, and Sepideh Qolian, the report claimed that these activists were connected to Marxist groups abroad.
According to the “documentary”, the workers’ protests at the Haft-Tappeh Sugarcane company were guided by these people with the help of foreign media and anti-Islamic Republic political groups to damage the regime and help overthrow it.
Qolian reported on January 9th that her interrogator had threatened her to broadcast her confessions on TV.
The program also shows handwriting from Esmail Bakhshi that says he has seen nothing but brotherhood and respect in prison, which seems to be an attempt to discredit all the torture claims by Bakhshi and Qolian.
The regime authorities had previously threatened Bakhshi with trying to damage the Islamic Republic’s image and said the Intelligence Ministry might bring up a lawsuit against him.